Did you happen to read the Wall Street Journal article titled “Parents Who Hire Elite Tutors Are Setting Their Kids Up for Failure”? You can find it here: https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/relationships/parents-who-hire-elite-tutors-are-setting-up-their-kids-for-failure-a4a9e73d?reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink on the WSJ site or here: https://apple.news/ApzQr_nSeTO6DKDLoXtNitg on Apple News.

I feel compelled to respond.

Firstly, it’s important to acknowledge that there are indeed unscrupulous tutors out there. The Varsity Blues scandal, led by Rick Singer, serves as a stark example of this.

However, these cases are exceptional outliers.

In my 35 years of tutoring experience, I have consistently found my colleagues to be entirely ethical. The vast majority of tutors genuinely care deeply for their students and prioritize their academic engagement and well-being.

As tutors, our goal is to help students develop essential skills, to cultivate their intellectual curiosity, and to prepare them for the challenges they will encounter in college and beyond.

I like to say that we strive to tutor ourselves into obsolescence, intentionally helping our students build the skills to handle the demands of higher education.

Additionally, we make an effort to assist students in balancing their academic responsibilities with extracurricular activities, mental health, and the joy of youth.

But what about the parent side?

In my extensive experience tutoring thousands of students over the past (nearly) four decades, I have had only one parent request something even remotely unethical. I firmly rejected this request and explained my reasoning in a manner similar to Ms. Roiphe’s argument: doing work for a student is not only unethical but also detrimental to their learning and development.

So, why tutor?

Because it works.

Tutoring, particularly high-frequency (or high-dose) tutoring sessions three times a week, has been extensively proven in numerous studies to be highly effective in enhancing skills. (For instance, refer to the following sources: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/fact-sheet-scaling-up-high-dosage-tutoring-is-crucial-to-students-success/ and https://studentsupportaccelerator.org/sites/default/files/Accelerator_Research_Agenda.pdf, among many others.)

While Ms. Roiphe’s arguments have some validity in a very narrow subset of the tutoring world, it appears that she lacks comprehension of the significant role that the majority of tutors play: helping students to become better learners.

Tutors are uniquely positioned to observe and provide personalized guidance to students, identifying and addressing their execution and reasoning errors. We get to know them well enough to steer them in the most effective directions for their individual skills improvement.

Teachers—with sincere kudos for the incredibly important and challenging job they do—often lack the resources to provide each individual student with the necessary support (though we always encourage students to seek help from teachers during office hours, etc.).

Parents—and bless them too for the selfless dedication they give to their kids—may not be equipped to help their children (when was the last time you solved a geometry proof?), or adding homework help to an already strained parent-child relationship may not be productive.

Tutors fill this gap by providing students with the assistance they need. We are not their classroom teachers or parents, with an often-contentious relationship; our role is to help them enhance not only their academic abilities but also their relationships with educators and parents. There is a reason we call our tutors Academic Mentors. We take the whole student into consideration.

Finally, I would argue that very few adults in the business world operate entirely independently. Interacting with colleagues and learning from experienced mentors is a common practice. Co-workers provide knowledge and experience in a similar manner to how our students learn from us. A good boss is an effective teacher. A helpful teammate boosts overall productivity. Individuals who can learn quickly and utilize available resources advance more rapidly, build stronger professional relationships, and find greater satisfaction in their careers, both academic and professional.

And isn’t that what we all want for our kids?